Night Watch

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Night Watch (Russian: Ночной дозор, Nochnoy Dozor) is a fantasy novel by Sergei Lukyanenko published in 1998. The story revolves around a confrontation between two opposing supernatural groups (known as "Others"): the Nightw, an organization dedicated to policing the actions of the Dark Others—and the Day, which polices the actions of the Light Others. The novel is first in a tetralogy that continues with Day Watch (Dnevnoy Dozor, Дневной дозор), Twilight Watch (Sumerechny Dozor, Сумеречный дозор) and Final Watch (Posledniy Dozor, Последний дозор).

Contents

A reluctant mage recently reassigned to field work, Anton Gorodetsky tracks vampires by drinking blood and channeling them. As he follows a young boy (Egor), who has been called by two vampires through the Metro, he notices a young woman, Svetlana, who has a huge vortex of damnation above her. Anton finds the vampires who have been calling Egor with their power and, as they don't have a special license, kills one of them, while the other (a female) gets away.

He returns to the Nightwatch headquarters, where his boss, Boris Ignatievich, informs him that he could be in danger as Zabulon (head of the Moscow Daywatch) might want revenge for his actions in killing Dark Others and gives him a stuffed owl called Olga (who later transforms into a woman), for his protection. Anton initially rejects the offer, then finds Olga in his apartment and reluctantly agrees. The next day he illegally uses his powers for good (by changing a person's morality, a spell called "remoralization") and clashes with a Dark Other from the Daywatch, Alisa Donnikova. They agree that Alisa can use her power to do a minor evil act as an exchange for her silence about this matter. He then discovers that Olga can speak and is a sorceress trapped in an owl's body as a punishment.

Anton goes to Egor's apartment to protect him from the vampire, then nearly loses him as Egor inadvertently slips in the Twilight for the first time. Surprisingly, he remains unaffiliated both to Light or to Dark. Meanwhile, Boris Ignatievich sends an incubus, Ignat, to the cursed woman, Svetlana Nazarova, to help her relax and say who could have cursed her, but to no avail. Finally, Anton is reassigned to visit Svetlana, and in the meantime, the vampiress calls to Egor and he joins her on the roof.

Anton manages to find out that Svetlana is a powerful Other who inadvertently cursed herself with her guilt (for what she did to her mother). Anton then gets back to Egor's roof to find the vampiress and Egor, as well as many other Light and Dark operatives, including Anton's neighbour, Kostya Saushkin, who is a vampire. Zabulon joins them and attacks Anton. But when he does, one of the Light Mages, Ilya, reveals himself to be Boris Ignatievich, who'd swapped their bodies. While Zabulon's plans seem compromised, and Egor considering his choice for Light, in a last shot, Alisa uses her agreement with Anton to make him tell Egor everything. Anton reveals to Egor that he was a pawn used by Boris Ignatievich and Zabulon in their intrigues. Angered, Anton leaves the roof, feeling misused.

A Dark Other, Galina Rogova, is killed by Maxim, a mysterious murderer using an enchanted wooden dagger, referring to himself as "The Judge". The next day, Boris Ignatievich announces that the Daywatch suspects one of the Nightwatch operatives. Everyone seems to have an alibi, except Anton. Boris Ignatievich thinks that Anton has been set up by the Daywatch, and uses his powers to swap Anton and Olga's bodies (Olga being now permanently human). In Olga's body, Anton then goes with Svetlana to her apartment to hide, and, after he gets there, reveals that he is in fact Anton, making Svetlana furious as she just told "Olga" she loved Anton. They go to a restaurant later in the evening where they spot an inoffensive Dark Other with his family. The Dark Other goes to the toilet, where Maxim was waiting and kills him. Anton, curious why the Dark Other had not returned from the toilet, briefly leaves Svetlana and discovers the body. Boris Ignatievich then reveals himself and asks Svetlana to give him anything that could help to recognize the killer, and Svetlana telepathically sends him the image of Maxim's wife's aura. Zabulon then comes over and recognises Anton in Olga's body, charging him with the murder. Anton flees while Zabulon tries to hit him with an effective destructive power, and manages to hitch a car. What he doesn't know is that the couple in the car is Maxim and his wife. Walking home, Anton calls Olga and asks to switch bodies back.

Waiting in the subway for Olga, Anton stumbles upon Egor and has a brief conversation with him. Olga arrives and Anton and Olga switch their bodies back using an incantation that reveals Boris Ignatievich's real name as Geser. While talking to Olga, Anton realises that the Daywatch is only chasing him in order to make Svetlana mad and use her powers illegally, which would allow them to dispose of her, or at least incapacitate her. Anton then takes a ride in the metro and when he goes off at a station, chased by a dark Other, a twilight figure, a departed mage, indicates that Anton should go to the Ostankino Tower. He kills the Dark mage chasing him and uses his appearance to mask himself. He arrives at the tower to find that the Daywatch has established their temporary headquarters in the Tower. Secretly penetrating inside, he sees Tiger Cub as an inspector from the Light and a bunch of incompetent Dark mages directing his search. Leaving the Tower, Anton goes by Egor's house and thinks Zabulon is taking revenge on him by setting him up.

Meanwhile, Maxim feels the presence of a Dark being and goes on a hunt. He finally finds the Dark being and is astonished when he discovers it is a little boy, Egor. Anton spots them and talks with Maxim, explaining the Treaty between Light and Dark, but Maxim doesn't comply, pointing out that Egor will grow up to be a dark mage, and it's better to kill him now. Anton intervenes when Maxim tries to kill Egor, and they fight in the twilight. Anton realizes that killing Maxim would mean that all witnesses showing his innocence would be dead, and is stabbed by Maxim. Gesar then comes over, suggests that Maxim should become a member of the Inquisition, and when Anton brags about how he outwitted Zabulon again, Gesar reveals that Zabulon has nothing to do with it and that all that was planned by the Nightwatch to raise Svetlana's magical level.

An old man arrives from Uzbekistan and is intercepted by a team of Dark Others led by Alisa, who attacks him thinking he possesses a coveted artifact. As they fight, his son slips away unnoticed with the artifact.

All of the Nightwatch operatives go to Tiger Cub's house to relax, but Anton doesn't manage to have fun, as he is concerned with Svetlana's growing powers influencing their relationship and the reason Gesar sent them off. He finally leaves and when he comes back to his apartment, he discovers Zabulon calmly reading a newspaper and waiting for him. Zabulon reveals that Alisher, the young man from , brought with him an artifact, a piece of chalk. Anton's research suggests that the Chalk of Fate and that it could be used by the Light to rewrite destiny, allowing someone to change the world to establish a new world order. Discussions with Olga and later Gesar reveal that Svetlana in fact is to use the Chalk to rewrite a destiny.

Walking outside, Anton drains the Light power from all of the passers-by he sees, taking their joy away. Anton joins Gesar, Svetlana, Zabulon, Egor, and Maxim on a rooftop where Svetlana prepares to rewrite Egor’s destiny, while a storm is gathering around them. Svetlana then opens Egor’s Book of Destiny. Gesar supposes Anton could use all the energy he has drained to stop the storm, but Anton uses it instead on himself via a simple remoralization spell. Astonished, Svetlana stops rewriting Egor's destiny and asks Anton for advice, but Anton says that she must decide what to write herself. The Book disappears, and Gesar notices she didn't write anything, she only erased things. Egor reverts from a potential Dark Other back to an unaffiliated state. Zabulon notices that their planned operation failed because of Svetlana's indecisiveness and, triumphant, leaves. Anton then notices the Chalk Svetlana used is not whole. Gesar reveals that Svetlana rewriting Egor's destiny was just a distraction, and in the mean time, Olga rewrote the destiny of someone later revealed. Gesar reveals the true nature of this plan was to save his love of Olga. Without her full powers, their love was doomed.